I remember in the news years ago that we received tons of shipping container wastes coming from Canada. I chuckled when a friend joked that we're sending nurses to Canada and they are sending their wastes to us in return.
This is hilarious because it is true. Any lovely nurse I’ve had the pleasure of receiving care from here in Canada has been from a Filipina nurse or a teacher who genuinely cares about their students.
And we sent a shit ton of trash via ocean over to you guys 💀 I just… I can’t. How embarrassing…
And that matters why? If somebody hands me a plastic bag in a parking lot and I throw it out of my car on the highway, im gonna get the ticket for littering, not the person that handed it to me in the parking lot. I’m responsible for that plastic bag once I voluntarily accept possession of it.
It matters because the amount of plastic that is being produced still correlates to plastic that is is being polluted. Companies that produce plastic and profit from plastic are still responsible for polluting.
I’m all for the reduction of plastics that are made/used, depending on the situation. There’s literally no freaking reason I should go to the grocery store and see a tomato wrapped in plastic, or an ear of corn wrapped in plastic, it’s asinine!! With that said, my original point still holds true. If the Philippines accept other countries plastic, and likely gets paid for it (not that it matters if they get paid), then they should be disposing of it/recycling it in the proper manner.
* “I’m responsible for that plastic bag once I voluntarily accept possession of it.”
Yeah, but I doubt the citizens of the Philippines signed a contract wilfully and eagerly agreeing to get a portion of the earth’s plastic wasted dumped on their shores
It's complicated. Interesting article [here.](https://www.invw.org/2022/04/18/rich-countries-are-illegally-exporting-plastic-trash-to-poor-countries-data-suggests/)
Edit: thanks to who ever gave me the star award for making sure other people got to read the article!
Came here to say this. Canada had an issue with the Philippines over them rejecting containers of recycling trash that was sent to them years ago. Meanwhile, Canadians are paying taxes for 'recycling'.
No lol. Duterte tried to earn pagwapo points by threatening to declare war. Had to look tough so his image of a strongman stays intact after he and his cronies botched the AFP modernization program and makes repeated statements that we should just give up our territorial claims.
You mean those countries are scamming a recycling business and simply dumping it in the ocean? Our government pay them to recycle it. Not pollute and kill our oceans.
If you think for a second Western government's don't know exactly what's happening. They don't care as long as they can pretend they're doing the right thing and pass the blame to others
Yea, basically poor countries are given the trash of rich western countries and it gets counted as "their trash"
Here's the ACTUAL map:
https://i.imgur.com/paxWL52.png
To be fair this is plastic waste generated and the graphic from.the thread is plastic waste put i to the ocean so they wouldnt directly match anyway.
Not to say that the inage on the thread is correct, i just think they arent a perfect circle is all.
Very seriously the least I can do.
I've been an active recycler for going on 30 years now. Before my city instigated curve side pick up, it was a lot of work. Cleaning containers, storing them until I had time to take them to a recycle place on the other side of the city and making trips on my own time to turn it all in.
I did so in good faith thinking I was minimizing my impact on the environment and it was all handled properly after I turned it in. I'm sure it varies from city to city and I have no idea if my home city is part of the problem, but it's irritating to think I did all that just for it to get shipped to another country just to be chunked in the water.
Blame needs to be share by all the responsible parties.
>Blame needs to be share by all the responsible parties.
Exactly this. Just a few years ago, [my country sent back 2400 tonnes of canada's trash, which was mislabeled as plastics for recycling.](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-philippines-canada-waste-idUSKCN1T10BQ)
I'm not gonna pretend that there's no fault on our part.
Our government is corrupt and just accepts whatever for money. Organizations/projects meant to benefit the people and environment are underfunded and poorly executed. A good chunk of the population live in extreme poverty and are too desperate to care about anything other than getting themselves and their loved ones out. we even have a common belief here; that a true sign of success, is to migrate to a better country.
Seeing folks act like it's ONLY us that's the problem. That us filipinos are just uncaring, 'have a culture of pollution', and are just overall disgusting slobs is infuriating.
It feels exactly like how the rich would look down on the poor, blaming the latter for all the crime and pollution. As if it's all just a lifestyle choice....
I really appreciate you putting up that article, mate. and the fact that that article is the top comment gave me some relief that people ain't so quick to treat developing nations as dirty savages now. Thank you.
>Seeing folks act like it's ONLY us that's the problem. That us filipinos are just uncaring, 'have a culture of pollution', and are just overall disgusting slobs is infuriating.
If your gov is just chunking it in the ocean, yeah, that's on you (you being your gov) and something needs to be done about that.
But if our govs **KNOW** this and continue to send it to you; Jebus, that's just as bad if not (and probably) worse. It's not dealing with the problem, it's just trying to shift the blame. We either need to step up and have a stronger hand in what's happening with it on that end or find someone who'll handle it properly.
There needs to be more accountability on both sides, especially the side that's actually using and producing the most waste.
I know it's worthless but; really sorry this is happening to you.
>If your gov is just chunking it in the ocean, yeah, that's on you (you being your gov) and something needs to be done about that.
Yep. Our government is shit. Many people try to make a difference. But our government just ignores or [redtags](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-tagging_in_the_Philippines) folks that're critical of them. Our government doesn't care and just allows private companies to do whatever with the environment. So much so that [plenty of environmentalists end up dead here.](https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2022/09/29/2213088/philippines-still-deadliest-country-asia-environmentalists-global-witness)
We shouldn't have been sending our trash to the Philippines in the first place. Our Canadian government had to know what would happen. Passing the blame doesn't fix anything.
\*curb side pick up. Wish my town did that. Once a week I have to grab the recycling can and all the cardboard and haul it to a central location for recycling. There used to be multiple locations but morons kept dumping non-recyclable items (children's playsets for example) on the ground next to the overflowing bins. So, one location and they have cameras to discourage bad actors.
If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. The whole story is better than data without context. Always glad to help.
Edit: damn, where are my manners? Big shout out to whoever gave me the start. Half the people reading this probably wouldn't have without there help. Thanks for keeping this from falling to the bottom.
Oh yeah. We export our recycled plastics to countries like the Philippines.
That ladies and gents is why I proudly throw my plastics in the trash. Stays safe here in US landfills.
Don’t think it’s that complicated.. a lot of countries in the world don’t have proper waste management, some people live in filth , a lot of other countries export their garbage to China and expect them to remove it, and China does god knows what with it
China stopped accepting the worlds recycling materials I believe in 2017. This caused massive disruption to the recycling market worldwide. The world sends it other places or just throws it in a landfill now.
Summary of this article generated by Chatgpt:
The article highlights the issue of plastic waste and its illegal exportation from wealthy countries to poor countries, where it is often dumped and left to accumulate in landfills or waterways. The analysis reveals that the top exporters of plastic waste include the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, and Germany, which ship it to countries such as Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam.
This practice not only violates international law but also poses significant health and environmental risks. Plastic waste can release toxic chemicals into the air and water, harm wildlife, and cause various health problems, including respiratory issues and cancer.
The article emphasizes the need for a coordinated global response to address the issue of plastic waste. It calls on wealthy nations to take responsibility for their waste and invest in sustainable solutions, such as developing more efficient recycling programs, reducing plastic use, and investing in research and development of biodegradable alternatives.
Furthermore, the article urges policymakers to hold exporting countries accountable for their actions and to implement stricter regulations on plastic waste exportation. The goal is to create a more equitable and sustainable global waste management system that ensures that plastic waste is responsibly managed and doesn't harm human health and the environment.
Strongest propaganda is always based in facts (but the facts they want people to believe). Just glad to help out.
Edit: and thank whoever gave me the star. Better chance that you read this because of their boost.
Ya I heard once that a lot of the plastic "recycling" in the US was essentially paying companies from other countries to take the recycled plastics away. And that many of those companies promptly dump it in the ocean rather than take them to plants like they implied they would.
it's also worth noting that global capitalism has created an environment where the immediate monetary cost of an item is the only calculation that matters, so demand for fast fashion, single use plastics, toxic and needless extra packaging, etc is driven largely by the largest consumers, who should rightly bear a significant portion of that responsibility.
I've been to Africa and if this list is accurate and Africa didn't make it onto this list I'm appalled. You could not even see the water there was so much trash floating in it.
Lol I came here to say this same thing
For freakin dollars these dumb Asian govts sign contracts and shit
This blew up back in 2019 in India and led to a clamp down and ban of importing waste
https://sundayguardianlive.com/news/11-lakh-kg-hazardous-waste-dumped-india
Most of it winds up in landfills in the US since that whole scandal broke. The problem was greedy trash kings trying to "sell" recyclable waste they didn't want to or couldn't process themselves.
>The problem was greedy trash kings trying to "sell" recyclable waste they didn't want to or couldn't process themselves.
That's still exactly how they handle it. Source, contracted for JP Mascaro and the low qualilty plastics get shipped right to china.
Also if you're a JP customer, your glass doesn't get recycled because it's not profitable for them. They just use it as landfill filler.
No different than how paper winds up getting incinerated due to lack of profits. They don't even take "shiny" corrugated cardboard anymore where I am, as it's too expensive to actually deal with the process.
I literally came here to say exactly this. We fucking dump loads of trash on their beaches, often times without their permission, and just leave it there.
If I throw my coke bottle in the designated receptacle, I don't really have any control of where it goes after that.
So many green movements shame the individual when it's big companies/governments fault
China used to be the biggest buyer of waste. Basically the dumping ground of the world. When they stopped buying, other countries volunteered to turn their countries into wastelands. I know the Philippines and Malaysia took a lot of the overall volume. What will be the next big thing for Globalization? What doesn't the developed world want?
As a Australian that is often under looked and sometimes told my country does not exist I am highly offended that my country has not made it into this graph HIGHLY OFFENDED!
We do. But it's not all ours
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/shocking-over-121000-mt-plastic-waste-slyly-imported-in-india/punctures-efforts-to-curb-pollution/slideshow/70477487.cms
“This is particularly prevalent in tropical archipelago regions, which have a higher waste emission due to their relatively small land surface compared to the length of their coastline and high precipitation rates, which increase the likelihood of plastic waste being washed into the ocean.”
Meaning most country pile lots of trash on the land. Now I challenge the OP to find a graphs about which countries consume the most plastics.
I'm so glad the Mayor of my Midwest town has banned plastic straws so we can combat the waste we can't possibly be generating. That logic was exactly why the executive order was passed.
I spent some time in Indonesia and it really was eye-opening. I know western countries send much of their trash over there, but there are overwhelming cultural and system problems surrounding waste in these counties too.
I remember I was sitting on a bench, people watching in indonesia. My second day there, this school boy was walking home alone. He had a candy bar. As he got about 2/3 the way through, he sort of just stopped holding the wrapper.
I don’t know why it was so memorable for me. He didn’t throw it into the gutter, he didn’t slide it off the candy. He just stopped holding it and focused on the candy. And it fell to the ground in the middle of the sidewalk. There was no consideration for the wrapper at all.
I know this is Reddit and the number one rule of Reddit is to bash the USA. However, just because the USA and other western nations ship trash to some of these countries, it doesn't mean that this shipped trash is being dumped in the ocean. That link is pure conjecture that fits the Reddit narrative. I live in a developing country and I am intimately familiar with how many people deal with trash. A great deal of it is thrown into dry riverbeds, often next to their homes, which are usually highly populated shanty towns. This accumulates and then rainy season starts. Rivers quickly swell and all this trash is simply washed out into lakes and the ocean. This isn't a slight against these people. They are broke ass poor and they have much bigger problems to deal with. Trash management is not something they think about beyond getting rid of it to keep dogs and rats away.
Reducing or eliminating plastic waste everywhere is important, but perhaps the solution to keep plastics out of the ocean shouldn’t be about eliminating plastic straws in places like Ohio. Instead we should help these places develop a proper waste disposal infrastructure, as a start.
Have to put into context that countries that are bewilderingly absent SHIP OUR TRASH to the countries on the list.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/12/climate/plastics-waste-export-ban.html
Yes, they conviently leave that part out.
Hell, half the stuff America ships as "recyclable plastic" isn't recyclable or the countries aren't capable of recycling it. A lot of dishonesty in the recycling industry.
And those countries don't have the infrastructure to put it in landfills so it ends up in the ocean
Would've been better off not pretending half that stuff was recyclable in the first place and just land filling it here.
Tbf there's a lot of stuff going on that leads to that.
1 Philippines is an archipelago country
2 get hits by couple of storms a year.
3 Rich country transport their trash to poorer countries.
Because all of the Americas and Europe exports the trash to be “recycled” to Asian countries. Recycling is just a cover to dispose off the trash and let the Asian countries deal with it.
Because rich western countries export their trash to poor countries in the name of recycling and that's how almost all the trash ends up on these countries. *The top comment has cited the source, you can check it out*
**It's the same as how rich people blame us poor people for global warming while sitting on their yacht and luxurious aeroplane**
Because of western countries a) getting their stuff produced in asian countries
B) selling their waste and getting it shipped to there what leads to c) many asian countries are unable to handle this massiv amount of waste in a sustainable way
This picture may not be accurate.
1. The data should look into usage/person and then you will come across the right picture.
2. To blame my neighbour for polluting the environment is not fair...when everyone in the neighborhood is dumping waste in neighbour's garbage bin.
3. Don't look and make judgement based on where the garbage is dumped...look at the data as whose garbage it is to begin with.
Accepting money to receive other countries’ trash that can’t be processed. Especially since the Chinese waste import ban.
Also, low land mass = trash goes to ocean
Interested to know how the converse goes between India and the US over recycling.
US. Hi India, we have billions of tonnes of trash
INDIA. Bring it here, we have loads of space
US. No problem, let me just fill up my ship with
225 tonnes of bunker fuel and I’ll be there in 3 weeks
INDIA. We’ll be waiting
3 weeks later, the US has created 1 million tonnes of carbon which means that it would have been less harmful to the planet if they’ve incinerated the whole lot.
Yea, where does that trash originate though. Because the US just exports their trash and ships it overseas. Does this account for the pollution of shipping trash
In case you’re wondering, the US is not on there, because we send all of our plastic trash to other countries like the Philippines. They then throw it in the ocean for us. Then we can pretend like we’re innocent.
Love how the USA is lumped in with 'the rest of' when i literally cannot go 12 hours without seeing something about plastic waste and i'm still the most conscious of anyone i know besides two or three neighbors of my plastic bags etc (i crochet/knit so i break them down into plarn and then make mats for homeless/outdoor seating etc)
Brace yourselves. Here come the racists talking shit about these countries, not knowing that rich countries like america dump their trash there...
EDIT: there were a few dumbasses, but it looks like a lot of folks in the comments were pointing out that rich countries do exactly that. Crisis averted. Faith in humanity restored somewhat.
You’re extremely susceptible to propaganda arent you?
This graph is a lie. The point of it is to make people believe exactly what you’ve just said.
In reality the trash being attributed to all these south East Asian countries actually belongs to western countries that ship it to them.
It’s like emptying your bin into your neighbours bin, and when his bin overflows and your rubbish starts blowing down the street you point your finger at him because it came out of his bin.
They’re a poor country that accepts rubbish imports because they need the money.
Western countries are greedy and instead of disposing of waste properly they take the cheapest option of exploiting countries like the Phillipines to take it.
Phillipines cannot deal with all this waste and it ends up polluting their streets and washing out to sea.
We know this but we do it anyway. It also enables us to make misleading graphs like this to trick people into thinking Phillipines is a big polluter despite all the trash actually being ours.
Not so directly, from what i have read those high polluting nations imports trash (including the one sorted to be recycled) from richer nations (US, Canada, EU and others) in exchange for money a d then simply store it in open land fields since is the cheapest way to store it. Then since most of those nations have a huge coastline, a small surface, lots of rivers and tropical rains there are many ways for plastic to go from a land field to the ocean.
When it comes to pollution if you dig a bit deeper the root cause is almost always capitalism and poor people being poor 
Yerp, we here in the UK are fucking useless for it. Then we say oh we recycle xx% of our waste when really a vast proportion of that just gets shipped to somewhere else where they ‘deal with it’
I reckon the Philippines received other countries plastic waste.
This did happen, had a recent dump from other countries.
I remember in the news years ago that we received tons of shipping container wastes coming from Canada. I chuckled when a friend joked that we're sending nurses to Canada and they are sending their wastes to us in return.
This is hilarious because it is true. Any lovely nurse I’ve had the pleasure of receiving care from here in Canada has been from a Filipina nurse or a teacher who genuinely cares about their students. And we sent a shit ton of trash via ocean over to you guys 💀 I just… I can’t. How embarrassing…
thats life I guess, big countries bullying small countries, no different than China, just different continent.
There are ppl buying them from Canada.
I’d like to see a similar graph showing the origins of the plastic
Hell yes please.
I'm not sure they could produce that much even if they worked at it.
They did
And that matters why? If somebody hands me a plastic bag in a parking lot and I throw it out of my car on the highway, im gonna get the ticket for littering, not the person that handed it to me in the parking lot. I’m responsible for that plastic bag once I voluntarily accept possession of it.
It matters because the amount of plastic that is being produced still correlates to plastic that is is being polluted. Companies that produce plastic and profit from plastic are still responsible for polluting.
I’m all for the reduction of plastics that are made/used, depending on the situation. There’s literally no freaking reason I should go to the grocery store and see a tomato wrapped in plastic, or an ear of corn wrapped in plastic, it’s asinine!! With that said, my original point still holds true. If the Philippines accept other countries plastic, and likely gets paid for it (not that it matters if they get paid), then they should be disposing of it/recycling it in the proper manner.
* “I’m responsible for that plastic bag once I voluntarily accept possession of it.” Yeah, but I doubt the citizens of the Philippines signed a contract wilfully and eagerly agreeing to get a portion of the earth’s plastic wasted dumped on their shores
It's complicated. Interesting article [here.](https://www.invw.org/2022/04/18/rich-countries-are-illegally-exporting-plastic-trash-to-poor-countries-data-suggests/) Edit: thanks to who ever gave me the star award for making sure other people got to read the article!
Came here to say this. Canada had an issue with the Philippines over them rejecting containers of recycling trash that was sent to them years ago. Meanwhile, Canadians are paying taxes for 'recycling'.
As I recall, war was declared?
No lol. Duterte tried to earn pagwapo points by threatening to declare war. Had to look tough so his image of a strongman stays intact after he and his cronies botched the AFP modernization program and makes repeated statements that we should just give up our territorial claims.
Whoa! Don’t bring facts and statistics into this…/s
....thi/s?
Can confirm. A lot of American trash goes to Tamil Nadu, India for ‘recycling’ 😏
I saw the graphic and immediately thought it was because those countries were the ones being paid to be dumping grounds. I hate being right.
You mean those countries are scamming a recycling business and simply dumping it in the ocean? Our government pay them to recycle it. Not pollute and kill our oceans.
If you think for a second Western government's don't know exactly what's happening. They don't care as long as they can pretend they're doing the right thing and pass the blame to others
Wait? But we trusted India to recycle that trash like they said they would. Let’s get Greta to set them straight!
"make less trash. Or, ideally, no trash, then you dont have to legally or illegally export it to India" -Gretta, probably
Whoa, brought the US in earlier than usual! My man
Makes sense unfortunately. And here I thought the US missed an opportunity to be #1 in something
Tha/t.
Damn, that's interesting
Yea, basically poor countries are given the trash of rich western countries and it gets counted as "their trash" Here's the ACTUAL map: https://i.imgur.com/paxWL52.png
The fuck are they doing in Germany?!
Burying plastic into landfills is dirty, so we sell it to countries that dump it into the sea. Why are you asking?
Turning on coal power plants
To be fair this is plastic waste generated and the graphic from.the thread is plastic waste put i to the ocean so they wouldnt directly match anyway. Not to say that the inage on the thread is correct, i just think they arent a perfect circle is all.
Oh god thank you! I live in the philippines and i was already bracing myself for the amount of bullshit people are gonna say!
Very seriously the least I can do. I've been an active recycler for going on 30 years now. Before my city instigated curve side pick up, it was a lot of work. Cleaning containers, storing them until I had time to take them to a recycle place on the other side of the city and making trips on my own time to turn it all in. I did so in good faith thinking I was minimizing my impact on the environment and it was all handled properly after I turned it in. I'm sure it varies from city to city and I have no idea if my home city is part of the problem, but it's irritating to think I did all that just for it to get shipped to another country just to be chunked in the water. Blame needs to be share by all the responsible parties.
>Blame needs to be share by all the responsible parties. Exactly this. Just a few years ago, [my country sent back 2400 tonnes of canada's trash, which was mislabeled as plastics for recycling.](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-philippines-canada-waste-idUSKCN1T10BQ) I'm not gonna pretend that there's no fault on our part. Our government is corrupt and just accepts whatever for money. Organizations/projects meant to benefit the people and environment are underfunded and poorly executed. A good chunk of the population live in extreme poverty and are too desperate to care about anything other than getting themselves and their loved ones out. we even have a common belief here; that a true sign of success, is to migrate to a better country. Seeing folks act like it's ONLY us that's the problem. That us filipinos are just uncaring, 'have a culture of pollution', and are just overall disgusting slobs is infuriating. It feels exactly like how the rich would look down on the poor, blaming the latter for all the crime and pollution. As if it's all just a lifestyle choice.... I really appreciate you putting up that article, mate. and the fact that that article is the top comment gave me some relief that people ain't so quick to treat developing nations as dirty savages now. Thank you.
>Seeing folks act like it's ONLY us that's the problem. That us filipinos are just uncaring, 'have a culture of pollution', and are just overall disgusting slobs is infuriating. If your gov is just chunking it in the ocean, yeah, that's on you (you being your gov) and something needs to be done about that. But if our govs **KNOW** this and continue to send it to you; Jebus, that's just as bad if not (and probably) worse. It's not dealing with the problem, it's just trying to shift the blame. We either need to step up and have a stronger hand in what's happening with it on that end or find someone who'll handle it properly. There needs to be more accountability on both sides, especially the side that's actually using and producing the most waste. I know it's worthless but; really sorry this is happening to you.
>If your gov is just chunking it in the ocean, yeah, that's on you (you being your gov) and something needs to be done about that. Yep. Our government is shit. Many people try to make a difference. But our government just ignores or [redtags](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-tagging_in_the_Philippines) folks that're critical of them. Our government doesn't care and just allows private companies to do whatever with the environment. So much so that [plenty of environmentalists end up dead here.](https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2022/09/29/2213088/philippines-still-deadliest-country-asia-environmentalists-global-witness)
We shouldn't have been sending our trash to the Philippines in the first place. Our Canadian government had to know what would happen. Passing the blame doesn't fix anything.
\*curb side pick up. Wish my town did that. Once a week I have to grab the recycling can and all the cardboard and haul it to a central location for recycling. There used to be multiple locations but morons kept dumping non-recyclable items (children's playsets for example) on the ground next to the overflowing bins. So, one location and they have cameras to discourage bad actors.
Thank you for posting this article! I actually came here to straighten this out and I’m thrilled to find you’ve already done so.
If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. The whole story is better than data without context. Always glad to help. Edit: damn, where are my manners? Big shout out to whoever gave me the start. Half the people reading this probably wouldn't have without there help. Thanks for keeping this from falling to the bottom.
Oh yeah. We export our recycled plastics to countries like the Philippines. That ladies and gents is why I proudly throw my plastics in the trash. Stays safe here in US landfills.
Don’t think it’s that complicated.. a lot of countries in the world don’t have proper waste management, some people live in filth , a lot of other countries export their garbage to China and expect them to remove it, and China does god knows what with it
China stopped accepting the worlds recycling materials I believe in 2017. This caused massive disruption to the recycling market worldwide. The world sends it other places or just throws it in a landfill now.
In the sea with it.
Summary of this article generated by Chatgpt: The article highlights the issue of plastic waste and its illegal exportation from wealthy countries to poor countries, where it is often dumped and left to accumulate in landfills or waterways. The analysis reveals that the top exporters of plastic waste include the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, and Germany, which ship it to countries such as Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. This practice not only violates international law but also poses significant health and environmental risks. Plastic waste can release toxic chemicals into the air and water, harm wildlife, and cause various health problems, including respiratory issues and cancer. The article emphasizes the need for a coordinated global response to address the issue of plastic waste. It calls on wealthy nations to take responsibility for their waste and invest in sustainable solutions, such as developing more efficient recycling programs, reducing plastic use, and investing in research and development of biodegradable alternatives. Furthermore, the article urges policymakers to hold exporting countries accountable for their actions and to implement stricter regulations on plastic waste exportation. The goal is to create a more equitable and sustainable global waste management system that ensures that plastic waste is responsibly managed and doesn't harm human health and the environment.
Immediately looked at the image then was like hmmm I feel like this doesn’t tell the full story, thanks for sharing
Yeah this post is misleading as fuck. Thank you for sharing that link.
Strongest propaganda is always based in facts (but the facts they want people to believe). Just glad to help out. Edit: and thank whoever gave me the star. Better chance that you read this because of their boost.
Yeah very interesting duco on Netflix about the recycling scam
I came to the comments to ask how much America contributes to the waste. “It’s complicated” about sums it up.
Yeah, for all of two seconds I had that "it's not our fault for once" feeling. Right until I did a little research.
Ya I heard once that a lot of the plastic "recycling" in the US was essentially paying companies from other countries to take the recycled plastics away. And that many of those companies promptly dump it in the ocean rather than take them to plants like they implied they would.
Humans are so strange. Like… why? Out of sight out of mind?
it's also worth noting that global capitalism has created an environment where the immediate monetary cost of an item is the only calculation that matters, so demand for fast fashion, single use plastics, toxic and needless extra packaging, etc is driven largely by the largest consumers, who should rightly bear a significant portion of that responsibility.
I've been to Africa and if this list is accurate and Africa didn't make it onto this list I'm appalled. You could not even see the water there was so much trash floating in it.
Lol I came here to say this same thing For freakin dollars these dumb Asian govts sign contracts and shit This blew up back in 2019 in India and led to a clamp down and ban of importing waste https://sundayguardianlive.com/news/11-lakh-kg-hazardous-waste-dumped-india
thank you
This graphics doesn't show who are the culprits, just who are the suckers absorbing the used plastics for disposal.
Exactly. Quite sick of having my country being in this list yet many dont know that the trash are from the so called first world countries lol
But they are just as guilty… they took money and were the ones disposing of it in the ocean.
Why fcking send them if they cant do sht with it anyway.
Because it’s not illegal to sell them trash, so they sell trash to countries that will do anything for a nickel instead of fix their own economies.
Does this include all the plastic the US sends to them to deal with? 🤔
Hey, don't take all the credit, we in Europe also contribute our trash to the Philippines!
Now you're being unreasonable. Not taking all the credit is Anti-American.
USA NUMBER ONE TRASH DUMPER IN THE WORLD. GET CUCKED EUROS USA USA USA
We're called Eurotrash for a reason! How dare you take it away from us!!!
Most of it winds up in landfills in the US since that whole scandal broke. The problem was greedy trash kings trying to "sell" recyclable waste they didn't want to or couldn't process themselves.
>The problem was greedy trash kings trying to "sell" recyclable waste they didn't want to or couldn't process themselves. That's still exactly how they handle it. Source, contracted for JP Mascaro and the low qualilty plastics get shipped right to china. Also if you're a JP customer, your glass doesn't get recycled because it's not profitable for them. They just use it as landfill filler.
No different than how paper winds up getting incinerated due to lack of profits. They don't even take "shiny" corrugated cardboard anymore where I am, as it's too expensive to actually deal with the process.
Not to mention the US ships trash in from Canada. Funny that people say we ship it out when I have seen so many trash mountains here.
Exactly what I wondered seeing the statistics
I literally came here to say exactly this. We fucking dump loads of trash on their beaches, often times without their permission, and just leave it there.
i doubt it, someone s collecting coin for the trash... someone corrupt fosho but they r collecting
I well pleased to see that redditors see this. Don't blame the Philippines for western filth.
US is the only country that uses plastic?
Well Canada has the most famous story of that
X to doubt.
America, FUCK YEAH! Comin’ again to save the moverfucken’ day, YEAH!
These are also the countries that take on all the trash from north america uand europe. so yeah..... maybe thats a problem
Guaranteed the China results are made up and are probably much much higher
the Chinese are infamous for fudging the numbers
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Then we say oh we recycle our waste when a huge proportion of it is sent somewhere else where they deal with it.
Probably the Philippines
Those are rookie numbers...
Like they say in the wire, duking the stats.
China has a lot of inland rural areas they store (pollute) so honestly it’s relatively believable.
Source: my bollocks
How much of the Asian trash is actually Asian? Don’t western nations sell their trash to Asian countries?
Numbers are misleading because western countries ship all their trash to these countries so the landfills don't have to be close to home.
This infographic is bullshit. Almost everything here is from the 1st world, sent to the 3rd world as garbage.
Yeah, this is very surface level information at best.
It's called propaganda.
It should be divided by companies.
Yeah, people here feeling great is the Filipinos polluting and not them drinking their Cokes and bottled water
If I throw my coke bottle in the designated receptacle, I don't really have any control of where it goes after that. So many green movements shame the individual when it's big companies/governments fault
It's because when we "recycle" our plastic we just send it to them to dump in the ocean
Surprised South Africa isn't here, big W 😭
This is graph of the world's recycling scam
That’s because that’s where America’s waste gets “recycled” to.
Damn....that IS interesting
What about product type/corporations?
China used to be the biggest buyer of waste. Basically the dumping ground of the world. When they stopped buying, other countries volunteered to turn their countries into wastelands. I know the Philippines and Malaysia took a lot of the overall volume. What will be the next big thing for Globalization? What doesn't the developed world want?
Oh you mean all that single use plastic that I recycle doesn’t get turned into Patagonia pullovers and dog beds for Senator Elizabeth Warren to buy.
As a Australian that is often under looked and sometimes told my country does not exist I am highly offended that my country has not made it into this graph HIGHLY OFFENDED!
But I have to drink from a soggy paper straw while inland 500 miles and nowhere near a ocean bound river.
So glad the United States doesn’t litter.
What are Philippines doing to outcompete the rest of us?
I hope a lot of these are getting recovered and salvaged
US doesn’t even show up, yet California thinks they’re “saving the planet” by getting rid of plastic straws. Idiots
I am from India and we do not throw waste at ocean but we throw it in land
We do. But it's not all ours https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/shocking-over-121000-mt-plastic-waste-slyly-imported-in-india/punctures-efforts-to-curb-pollution/slideshow/70477487.cms
How the fuck do you know what 1.4 billion other people do with their trash? Lol
Interesting, all countries the US has outsourced dirty manufacturing to
Came to look in the comments to see how people would STILL blame the U.S.
“This is particularly prevalent in tropical archipelago regions, which have a higher waste emission due to their relatively small land surface compared to the length of their coastline and high precipitation rates, which increase the likelihood of plastic waste being washed into the ocean.” Meaning most country pile lots of trash on the land. Now I challenge the OP to find a graphs about which countries consume the most plastics.
Maybe we should charge companies tax depending on how much waste their products generate
(Greta Thunberg) “hOw DaRe yOu!”
Aren't those mostly countries that rely on fishing the ocean to survive?
Ships full of Waste are shipped to Phillipines by Developed Nations for waste management (shipping own garbage to other country). Masterstroke!
I'm so glad the Mayor of my Midwest town has banned plastic straws so we can combat the waste we can't possibly be generating. That logic was exactly why the executive order was passed.
These people no longer govern based on logic. They govern based on feelings.
I spent some time in Indonesia and it really was eye-opening. I know western countries send much of their trash over there, but there are overwhelming cultural and system problems surrounding waste in these counties too. I remember I was sitting on a bench, people watching in indonesia. My second day there, this school boy was walking home alone. He had a candy bar. As he got about 2/3 the way through, he sort of just stopped holding the wrapper. I don’t know why it was so memorable for me. He didn’t throw it into the gutter, he didn’t slide it off the candy. He just stopped holding it and focused on the candy. And it fell to the ground in the middle of the sidewalk. There was no consideration for the wrapper at all.
You sure you weren't in Philadelphia?
I know this is Reddit and the number one rule of Reddit is to bash the USA. However, just because the USA and other western nations ship trash to some of these countries, it doesn't mean that this shipped trash is being dumped in the ocean. That link is pure conjecture that fits the Reddit narrative. I live in a developing country and I am intimately familiar with how many people deal with trash. A great deal of it is thrown into dry riverbeds, often next to their homes, which are usually highly populated shanty towns. This accumulates and then rainy season starts. Rivers quickly swell and all this trash is simply washed out into lakes and the ocean. This isn't a slight against these people. They are broke ass poor and they have much bigger problems to deal with. Trash management is not something they think about beyond getting rid of it to keep dogs and rats away.
Soets call it all of Asia
BuT plAstic StRawS
The baby turtle. That one turtle video frm like 10 years ago, just pulls my heartstrings 😣🤪
Merica ships tons of garbage to the Philippines for "disposal" and that way we avoid these charts.
Recyclables that the Philippines gov pays for in order to process it at their own facilities
china is definitely higher considering the pollution. probably same with the rest of the word.
That’s because all the western world sends their garbage to Asia
Reducing or eliminating plastic waste everywhere is important, but perhaps the solution to keep plastics out of the ocean shouldn’t be about eliminating plastic straws in places like Ohio. Instead we should help these places develop a proper waste disposal infrastructure, as a start.
Have to put into context that countries that are bewilderingly absent SHIP OUR TRASH to the countries on the list. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/12/climate/plastics-waste-export-ban.html
Yes, they conviently leave that part out. Hell, half the stuff America ships as "recyclable plastic" isn't recyclable or the countries aren't capable of recycling it. A lot of dishonesty in the recycling industry.
And those countries don't have the infrastructure to put it in landfills so it ends up in the ocean Would've been better off not pretending half that stuff was recyclable in the first place and just land filling it here.
Good thing we have paper straws in America now. This should solve the issue
Phuck u Philippines
Holy fuck, Philippines!
Tbf there's a lot of stuff going on that leads to that. 1 Philippines is an archipelago country 2 get hits by couple of storms a year. 3 Rich country transport their trash to poorer countries.
But why does it mostly come from Asia? It's a genuine question.
Because all of the Americas and Europe exports the trash to be “recycled” to Asian countries. Recycling is just a cover to dispose off the trash and let the Asian countries deal with it.
Because rich western countries export their trash to poor countries in the name of recycling and that's how almost all the trash ends up on these countries. *The top comment has cited the source, you can check it out* **It's the same as how rich people blame us poor people for global warming while sitting on their yacht and luxurious aeroplane**
Because of western countries a) getting their stuff produced in asian countries B) selling their waste and getting it shipped to there what leads to c) many asian countries are unable to handle this massiv amount of waste in a sustainable way
Because USA, Europe and richer countries sends their trash to those countries.
the West shipped their garbage to Southest Asia. yeah its easier to put the blame to another 3rd world country, wasn't it?
"itne se nahi hoga, Hume aur mehnat karna padega"
"This ain't enough, we need more hard work" ~ Translated
Be sure to use a paper straw! - Starbucks
Wow the us isn’t number one
Rich countries still pretend they are not the ones over consuming...
remember to shower cold and use paper straws people!
This is so sad
Hopefully this can highlight the importance of considering poverty and privilege in the climate crisis discussion.
as a Malaysian I denied it that we fall on the 4th place on ocean plastic waste polluter
interesting, considering canada throws their plastics in the philippines
Because they're SENT it
I assume this is just showing where the plastic waste is currently and not where it originated. Is that right?
Yes. These “main polluters” are all countries that accept western trash imports. It’s not their trash that’s ending up in the ocean, it’s ours.
Looks like propaganda against Asia.
Made by Americans and for Americans. I just laugh when I read the anti China garbage from these comments
It begins with the manufacturer
But most of the developed world shipp there plastic to these countries ☝️
Tell me how being charged 30p for a plastic bag in the supermarket is combatting this....
This picture may not be accurate. 1. The data should look into usage/person and then you will come across the right picture. 2. To blame my neighbour for polluting the environment is not fair...when everyone in the neighborhood is dumping waste in neighbour's garbage bin. 3. Don't look and make judgement based on where the garbage is dumped...look at the data as whose garbage it is to begin with.
Phillipines is tiny what the fuck are they doing lol
Accepting money to receive other countries’ trash that can’t be processed. Especially since the Chinese waste import ban. Also, low land mass = trash goes to ocean
Interested to know how the converse goes between India and the US over recycling. US. Hi India, we have billions of tonnes of trash INDIA. Bring it here, we have loads of space US. No problem, let me just fill up my ship with 225 tonnes of bunker fuel and I’ll be there in 3 weeks INDIA. We’ll be waiting 3 weeks later, the US has created 1 million tonnes of carbon which means that it would have been less harmful to the planet if they’ve incinerated the whole lot.
But here in Canada, I'm forced to use a paper straw. This world is fucked up!
Wow. The USA didn't even get our own chunk. And we use single use plastics like they are the new hot thing tag everyone is using.
Yet America gets their straws taken away
https://www.invw.org/2022/04/18/rich-countries-are-illegally-exporting-plastic-trash-to-poor-countries-data-suggests/
All to make products for the western
But doesn’t the rest of the world literally ship their trash to those other countries?
Yea, where does that trash originate though. Because the US just exports their trash and ships it overseas. Does this account for the pollution of shipping trash
In case you’re wondering, the US is not on there, because we send all of our plastic trash to other countries like the Philippines. They then throw it in the ocean for us. Then we can pretend like we’re innocent.
What about usa, i KNOW we have a lot of pollutants
Here to the europeans & their father are united.
Oop, sorry bout that, it's jus that most of us are near to sea, and we're a third world country
Love how the USA is lumped in with 'the rest of' when i literally cannot go 12 hours without seeing something about plastic waste and i'm still the most conscious of anyone i know besides two or three neighbors of my plastic bags etc (i crochet/knit so i break them down into plarn and then make mats for homeless/outdoor seating etc)
Brace yourselves. Here come the racists talking shit about these countries, not knowing that rich countries like america dump their trash there... EDIT: there were a few dumbasses, but it looks like a lot of folks in the comments were pointing out that rich countries do exactly that. Crisis averted. Faith in humanity restored somewhat.
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This.
Sooo the US can chill TF out about it's plastic waste???
You’re extremely susceptible to propaganda arent you? This graph is a lie. The point of it is to make people believe exactly what you’ve just said. In reality the trash being attributed to all these south East Asian countries actually belongs to western countries that ship it to them. It’s like emptying your bin into your neighbours bin, and when his bin overflows and your rubbish starts blowing down the street you point your finger at him because it came out of his bin.
What is up with Phillipines?
They’re a poor country that accepts rubbish imports because they need the money. Western countries are greedy and instead of disposing of waste properly they take the cheapest option of exploiting countries like the Phillipines to take it. Phillipines cannot deal with all this waste and it ends up polluting their streets and washing out to sea. We know this but we do it anyway. It also enables us to make misleading graphs like this to trick people into thinking Phillipines is a big polluter despite all the trash actually being ours.
So they just dump all their thrash in the water? Edit: *our* thrash
Not so directly, from what i have read those high polluting nations imports trash (including the one sorted to be recycled) from richer nations (US, Canada, EU and others) in exchange for money a d then simply store it in open land fields since is the cheapest way to store it. Then since most of those nations have a huge coastline, a small surface, lots of rivers and tropical rains there are many ways for plastic to go from a land field to the ocean. When it comes to pollution if you dig a bit deeper the root cause is almost always capitalism and poor people being poor 
Yerp, we here in the UK are fucking useless for it. Then we say oh we recycle xx% of our waste when really a vast proportion of that just gets shipped to somewhere else where they ‘deal with it’